•   Michael Petersen – Mike Petersen is a Senior Aerospace Engineer for Parachute Systems. He has supported a wide variety of parachute systems for personnel, cargo, drone recovery, and spacecraft.

Mr. Petersen currently serves as the Chair of the Short Course Subcommittee and the Design Guide Wiki Subcommittee of the AIAA Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems Technical Committee (ADS TC).  He has previously served as General Chair, Secretary, and Awards Subcommittee Chair. 

•   Jean Potvin – Professor, Department of Physics, Saint Louis University, Short Course Executive Team Member, Presenter

Dr. Potvin is a Professor of Physics at Saint Louis University, Saint Louis Missouri USA. He is a graduate of Universite Laval (Quebec City, Canada) where he got a BS Physics degree (1978), and of the University of Colorado-Boulder where he got a PhD, also in Physics (1985). Between 1991 and 2015, Jean was an active skydiver logging over 2687 parachute jumps. He is also a FAA-rated Senior parachute rigger.

Dr. Potvin has been involved in the study of parachute physics and aerodynamics since 1994, focusing mainly on inflation modeling. He has consulted on parachute matters for NASA, the US Army and several engineering firms

•   John Underwood – Principal Engineer, Vorticity Ltd.

John is the Principal Engineer at Vorticity Ltd, an engineering consultancy specializing in Entry, Descent and Landing Systems; particularly for space missions.

He has worked in the parachute field for over 30 years. He was responsible for system analysis and wind tunnel testing of the three- parachute system for the NASA / ESA Huygens probe to Titan which performed successfully on arrival in January 2005 after an 8-year flight.

Mr. Underwood also worked on parachute systems for Martin-Baker ejection seats and several Mars landers, as well as leading many parachute research programmes for both European and US customers.

Over the last three decades his work has involved all aspects of parachute system development including systems analysis, parachute design, wind tunnel and flight testing, multi-body simulations and CFD / FSI modelling.

•   John Watkins – Principal Engineer, Pioneer Aerospace Corporation, ASR – Pioneer

John W. Watkins is currently Principal Engineer at the Pioneer Aerospace Corporation, ASR – Pioneer, as part of a twenty-four year career at the Pioneer Aerospace Corporation.

Projects at Pioneer have included: the large parafoil parachute system for the NASA X-38 Crew Return Vehicle for the International Space Station; development of an advanced troop parachute and deployment system; development of parachute test techniques and instrumentation; an advanced ejection seat parachute; a troop parachute harness in use with several military services; program manager for the Pioneer/Fox Parachute Services G16¬Cargo Parachute; and parachute technical lead/program manager for the USAF Rapid Dragon program.

Prior to coming to Pioneer, Mr. Watkins had 13 years parachute development experience as a program manager at the U.S. Army Natick Research, Development, and Engineering Center (NRDEC), with emphasis on personnel parachute systems. He developed quick response modifications for cargo parachutes used in Bosnia and first Gulf war, and the test techniques to rapidly verify performance before operational use. Mr. Watkins was a member of the McDonnell- Douglas/USAF/US Army team responsible for testing and qualifying the C 17 transport aircraft to conduct mass-tactical assault airborne operations. Mr. Watkins was a member of the French, German, UK, and US working group to develop the International Test Operations Procedure (ITOP) for parachutes.

Mr. Watkins is Airborne qualified and one of the few civilians to attend Airborne School at Ft. Benning, GA. Major (Retired), U.S. Army Reserves. Private pilot with single engine land and glider ratings. He built and test flew an experimental self-launching sailplane. He has extensive experience with Radio Controlled model aircraft leading to the use of inexpensive model aircraft instrumentation for parachute development and testing. Mr. Watkins is a past chair of the AIAA Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems Technical Committee and he is an AIAA Associate Fellow.

•   Oleg Yakimenko – Contributor

Oleg Yakimenko is a Distinguished Professor and Chair of Systems Engineering Department at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA (NPS). He also serves as NPS Associate Dean of Research / Director of UAS Research Activities. He holds two doctoral degrees – in Aerospace Engineering and in Operations Research. He serves as the Program Manager of Autonomous Systems Track, Director of Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems Center, and Director of Autonomous Systems Engineering and Integration Laboratory at NPS. His areas of interest include modeling, guidance, navigation and control of manned and unmanned aerial and maritime vehicles, satellites, guided weapons and parachutes.

Dr. Yakimenko is an author or co-author of over three hundred publications including fourteen textbooks and seventeen patents. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).